Friday 15 March 2024

Stones

Bemerton Heath Harlequins  2  Larkhall Athletic  1

Southern Football League – Division One South 

Admission / Programme - £10 / Online

After two weeks of relatively local ventures on a Saturday, the shackles, once more, were off!

The quest for the 410 or so (I’m not sure on the actual total number cos I can’t be arsed to work out ground shares and all that shite), is now down to just 26 grounds to complete the top eight tiers of English football.

I reckon by the end of the season I could be down to 20, but anything from 10 to 15 will go back on again due to promotions, so working on some basic maths, I reckon I’m probably two more full seasons away from being able to pop the champagne cork and announce to Mrs H that I am done, for the time being anyway!

Ok, Guernsey and potentially Jersey could be a right arse to sort out, but we’ll worry about that when the time comes, I mean, we got to the Isle of Man without any hitches didn’t we!!


I fancied Bemerton Heath Harlequins, a newly promoted team to the Southern League Division One South at the start of the season, after finishing runners-up in the Wessex League. I’ll be honest, while before this season I’d heard of the club, where they were actually from was a mystery to me. Yes, they were obviously from Wessex, which apparently is a fictional County made up by some bloke who wrote books and that, but that aside, it was Google Maps time.

Well I never, they were from Salisbury, the West side of the City, so that in turn meant along with the recent visit to Salisbury FC, I would be making two journeys to the place in relatively quick succession. When I set the route out, an added tinge of excitement unfurled when it became apparent that I’d be driving right past Stonehenge on the A303 to allow me to enter from the West. I’d never seen Stonehenge before, a Stonehenge virgin if you will, but we’ll not open that can of  paganistic worms….

While it’s probably shorter in terms of distance, bearing in mind I was approaching from the East, I’d been advised by every man, woman, child, animal and indeed Russian Secret Agent that if I drove into the centre of Salisbury, it could be a very long time before I appeared out the other side again (that’s because of traffic, not Russian shenanigans I might add). So rather than risk that, it was to be a journey across the top.

A very pleasant journey it was too, all the way down to the A303 and then despite warnings I’d be queuing for quite some time as road went down to one lane when Stonehenge was in the proximity, they proved to be unfounded and while things did slow down, the hold up was minimal. Stonehenge by the way is a pile of stones, people stand and look at them, after walking a fair distance from the car and coach parks, then presumably after staring at them, they go home again. That’s my input to the local tourist board sorted anyway, you can double your admission prices now!

Bemerton Heath (or Bemmy as the locals call it) is a large housing estate and to access the ground you have to meander your way through the streets before following a driveway which takes you down into a dip on the very edges of the estate where the ground (Moon Park) is located.

Moon Park is a tidy, and attractive tree lined location, and upon arrival a small car park greets you that sits behind the goal, with the large clubhouse and changing room block adjacent. The clubhouse serves the community and I got the feeling that many of it’s inhabitants had no plans to attend the game, although once you got to half time you could walk freely between the clubhouse and the ground without having to worry about things like handing over a tenner!

The top floor of the clubhouse leads you to an open viewing area filled with seats, right above the goal, but with a large net in front of the seats for safety reasons, presumably serving two purposes. One being to stop occupants being hit by stray shots, and the other reason being to stop people from falling off the edge!

The tea bar sits in what is effectively a tunnel that runs from pitch side behind the goal to the clubhouse building, and with a kids team acting as mascots for the game, it looked to be doing a roaring trade as the kids munched burgers and chips while grown ups necked pints!

Two areas of cover sit on one side of the ground, one being a terraced area, the other being seats, both of which are elevated slightly above pitch level to give excellent views. The rest of the ground is hard standing but what makes it a homely enclosed venue are the tall trees that surround the stadium on the two sides where no furniture resides.

The pitch was in great nick as well, I was mostly very happy with my surroundings!

What’s the story with Bemmy as a football club then? Well, it’s a merger of two clubs, one being Bemerton Athletic, and the other being Moon FC who were a Sunday side. They got together in 1989 to form BHH, being immediately accepted into the Wessex League, after Athletic had previously played in the Wiltshire League.


They had a long unbroken spell in the Wessex League, having a successful spell from 2009 to 2014 when they finished runners up twice in the Premier Division, but in the season before Covid struck they found themselves relegated to Division One.

They bounced back in 2021-22 by winning the title, and then in their first season back in the top flight, last time around, as we know they finished runners up and got promotion to Step 4 for the first time.

They have also had a couple of good runs in the FA Vase, reaching the Fifth Round on two occasions, losing out to Clitheroe and Spennymoor Town, both times away from home.

What about the big game against Larkhall Athletic then, could Bemmy get the win they needed to maintain their hopes of a play off place?

It started well enough, Daniel Young headed home firmly from close range in sixth minute and then five minutes before the break Remus Nixon produced an excellent free kick to leave it 2-0 at half time.

A goalkeeping error saw a looping effort from Jack Goodall find the net ten minutes after the break to reduce the arrears for Larkhall, but despite periods of pressure, Bemmy ran out deserved and relatively comfortable winners.

Pre-match, I did wonder if Mrs H had stitched me up. The tannoy bloke announced to those in the ground about a visitor from Derbyshire who had come to watch the game, I froze on the spot with fear waiting to be outed, but it turns out it was some chap from Buxton called Edward who had come on the train! I don’t know Edward, I never met Edward, I wonder if Edward has got home yet?

Anyway, the escape was an easy one, the traffic around Stonehenge had thinned significantly, I did think about calling in but there was a really interesting advert on Talksport so I didn’t bother, and before long the road back to the Midlands was being eaten up.

25 to go….I will eventually miss all of this you know!


Friday 8 March 2024

Cutting It Fine

Bollington Town  1  Newton Athletic  0

Cheshire Football League – Division One 

Admission / Programme - Free / Free

It was going to be tight, very tight indeed!

It was the work annual awards night, and muggins here had been roped into being the Master of Ceremonies for the evening, which in the simplest of terms meant I had no choice but to be boarding a train in Belper at 5.34pm!

Any later and I would have been in a whole World of pain, so whatever plans I had for football, they simply had to tie in with the logistics. In short, I needed to get home, get changed and all that, and then be ready for my lift to the station which was coming at 5.20pm courtesy of Mrs H’s Mother….


So, plans had to be carefully made, and getting to a new ground, well, it did look like it was going to be an impossibility until I was looking at the Cheshire League fixtures in the build up to the weekend.

It came to my attention, after having visited Upton JFC the week before, that Bollington Town were also in the running for promotion, and in terms of the venue they played at, well it was a school 4G in Macclesfield. Google Maps told me that with a 2pm kick off, not too much buggering abut at half time, a modest amount of injury time, and a quick getaway, I could get home for 5pm, but, I needed to be on my ‘A Game’ if I was going to make it happen without a disaster.


I spoke to Steve, and very quickly I had a wing man, a wing man who was setting off before me to check things out, because my departure was going to be delayed due to another domestic matter that needed to be attended to. I was on the Via Gellia when Steve phoned me to tell me he’d arrived at All Hallowes Catholic College, but, he could see no signs of life. After a bit of snooping around though he discovered that the college had two entrances, and he had gone to the wrong one. A quick re-route and by the time I was getting on the Cat & Fiddle all was good in the World, the players from both teams were arriving.

Rumours of a snowbound Cat & Fiddle proved to be just that, while the terrain was very white, the roads were clear, and before long I was dropping down into Macc, and making my way out the other side to where the college is located. The college is located in an area of housing just to the West of the town centre, and Steve was very kindly stood at the side of the road to direct me into the car park. It was twenty past one, the pub was shut, so it was a simple waiting game, and a hope that everything was prompt!

Ok, so we may be in Macclesfield, but the neighbouring town of Bollington, what’s the deal when it comes to football? If I’m honest, I had no knowledge of any teams playing in the town (not saying that they didn’t, I just wasn’t aware) up until a couple of years ago when I was playing around with the Hope Valley League and a team arrived (Bollington FC), which to be honest felt a little out on a limb given the geographical patch. They did pretty well but then disappeared to what I seem to think was the Lancashire & Cheshire League, where as far as I know, they remain. 

Bollington Town, also as far as I know, have no connection to the Bollington that played in the HVL, and I noticed last season that they’d landed in the Cheshire League, after winning the Altrincham & District League. Anyway, after getting promotion by finishing in third place in the Second Division, they seem to be on a roll and are now well placed to get into what is effectively Step 7.


The ground in Bollington that Bollington FC played at was the recreation ground that was shared with the cricket. Set in something of a valley, it was a lovely venue, whereas the college in Macclesfield that Town play at might not have got the same scenic setting, but as you can imagine it’s a caged affair with a viewing area down the one side. Set in a dip to the North of the college buildings, it was far from an unwelcoming place, and indeed sat behind it was a small area containing sheep and pigs, that Steve and I went to have a chat with at half time!

The game was two minutes late kicking off, and given the fact it was second versus bottom placed visitors Newton Athletic (who share the same ground as Upton JFC), the game was far from one sided, and was indeed settled by the only goal of the game when the hosts scored late in the first half through George Richardson.


Half time took a little longer than I would have hoped, largely because both sides trooped off back into the college, and in the second period it was the visitors who were putting on the pressure late in the game, but it was ultimately to no avail. I moved fast, finally pulling onto the drive at 5.05pm, within fifteen minutes I’d gone from casual to smart, fully attired in a penguin suit, ready to bear the brunt of the ridicule from fellow passengers on the Belper to Nottingham train service, and then of course the Forest and Liverpool fans that were loitering around the proximity of the rail head.

Once a year I have to do this, just once a year, and I don’t think there are many more Bollington’s and the like that I can loop into the equation. But two years running now I’ve pulled it off, last time round it was joys of the Fairfield Estate in Buxton, which to be fair was a little less stressful than Macclesfield.

Can Belper United get into a new ground in 12 months? I somehow doubt it………






Saturday 2 March 2024

Hollyoaks


Upton FC  3  Daten  3

Cheshire Football League – Division One

Admission / Programme - Free / Free

Shocked?

I can imagine you probably are, in the sense that for the first time in quite a while I’ve not gone into Southern League or Isthmian League territory, and for that matter I’ve actually travelled North to a place that by my standards, isn’t too far away!

There is a reason, and that reason is that during the preceding week myself, Mrs H and Mr H (Jnr), had been on a little vacation to the Netherlands. That vacation started the previous Sunday courtesy of a train trip to London (of course I’d been in London for football the day before anyway!), and then went on to become a Eurostar venture that took us to Amsterdam on the Monday.


A fun week was had in the land of the Hurdy Gurdy, which I’m proud to say involved no football, and it ended at around 10.30pm on the Friday night when after a day of travelling the key finally went into the front door. Getting up and going back in the very direction we’d travelled from twelve hours later did not appeal, so I had to have a re-think of the options.

I started to look at what might fall onto the radar next season. By that, who’s applied to move from Step 7 to Step 6, and, who is in the running for promotion in the three leagues where I only bugger about with the top flight.


The Manchester League, the Yorkshire Amateur League and the Cheshire League being those respective competitions, but add into that the ongoing battle against the weather, I felt a plastic pitch was going to be the best option. Upton Junior Football Club were top of the Cheshire League First Division, and, they played on plastic at the Cheshire County Sports Club.

That’ll do, I thought, a 2pm kick off against Daten (an acronym for Department of Atomic Energy), less than two hours away, I could set off late morning and be home for close on 5.30. Boom, boom, and indeed shake the room, we had a plan that ticked all boxes!

Upton play on the East side of Chester, and the ground is accessed very easily from the M53, being only a mile or so from a junction. The journey up was a breeze, across the A50 to Stoke, up the M6, along the M56 past Runcorn and all that stuff, before heading into the City famed for Hollyoaks, Ian Rush and a zoo.

I was talking to Steve on the way up, recalling the last time I watched a game in Chester. It was the back end of the season, I remember it well because it was the day Notts County got relegated from the Football League. We went to Blacon Youth, which in itself was fine, but the pub beforehand, jeez, now that was an experience, we got out in one piece though, a result under the circumstances.


Otherwise, I’m not by any means a regular visitor to Chester. Steve goes about every week to visit the zoo, and as a result he has indeed been to a game at Upton before, but apart from the Blacon experience, I’ve only ever been the once to Chester’s ground back in my student days, and other than that it’s only been City Centre day trips and work meetings.

The Cheshire County Sports Club is a large complex, and from what I can gather spreads either side of the main A41. To the West is what appears to be a grass running track and a large building, and then if you head over the footbridge to the East you get the area where the football was happening.

To access that you enter via Mannings Lane and the first thing you see is the rugby pitch with a small stand, which it seems is used by Christleton RUFC. Next to this is the cricket ground where the occupants are apparently Cheshire County Officers CC, and then sat right in the centre of the complex is a two story dressing room and clubhouse facility, complete with viewing balcony!


Two 3G pitches are then at the very North end of the site, with my game of choice being played on the pitch that runs width ways along the edge of the A41. When I arrived a youth game was taking place on the pitch, while on the other pitch Upton JFC Veterans were playing a home game.

Upton JFC is a large club with various teams across all age groups, male and female, and from the point of view of the men’s senior team, they sat top of the league prior to the game and along with Bollington Town, St Michaels and Vulcan. They look set to be the sides vying to make it in to the top flight.


The way the game started you expected nothing short of a comfortable home victory. The first goal came with less than a minute on the clock thanks to a finish from Raener Gray, and then only a matter of minutes later Jack Middleton netted the second with a clever flick from a corner. At 2-0, and with Daten looking a little stunned, you had visions of a big victory, but…..

The visitors composed themselves and got to half time with the score still at 2-0, but then in the second period they stunned Upton with two quick fire goals in again, a matter of minutes, both from Jack Hodgkiss who produced some composed finishing.

At 2-2 you wondered what might happen next, and it was that man Hodgkiss who netted the third for Daten and at the time what looked like an unlikely comeback three points after a terrible start. However, as the game moved into injury time, the hosts won a free kick on the edge of the box, and up stepped Aaron Hinchliffe to put the ball over the wall and into the net.


3-3, on balance a point each was about right, Upton will be frustrated though, because at 2-0 they looked like they had it, but, credit to the boys from Culcheth, they certainly dug deep when all looked somewhat lost.

The escape from Chester was straightforward, and as I hoped, back in the door at 5.30pm. A very good afternoon out it has to be said, and fair play to Upton for getting back to me on Twitter to confirm details about the game beforehand. I hope they get the promotion they are striving for, Chester could do with more clubs higher up the pyramid.

I might try and shock you again this time next week…..!


Sunday 18 February 2024

Transit Van

Redbridge  1  Brightlingsea Regent  1

Isthmian League – Division One North 

Admission / Programme - £10 / Free

It does feel like getting to a game at the Oakside Stadium, the home of Redbridge Football Club, was proving to be more problematic than it needed to be.

The problem was not the doing of the football club by any means, the pitch is notoriously reliable, or at least seems to have been this season when others have fallen foul of the weather. No, the problem was very much one of my own doing. 

Bad planning for a start, like planning to go to a game that was never going to be played because Redbridge were in the FA Trophy. The fact two teams play at the ground, Newbury Forest being the other in the Eastern Counties League, meant I kept putting it off because effectively it was a ground I could go to on any given Saturday. Then of course, when it was on the radar recently, what was effectively the toss of a coin, took us to Raynes Park Vale instead.

Like I say, it wasn’t a Hanworth Villla situation by any means whereby a cat wazzing on the pitch would get a game called off, it was just one of those situations where it kept getting pushed back, and then further back, bearing in mind it was originally scheduled for a Saturday in November!

So, I had a plan, the home game against Brightlingsea Regent, the weather looked fine, and barring something pretty extreme happening, all looked good. A further twist on Saturday morning came in the shape of Alfreton Town’s home game with Kings Lynn Town being called off (ATFC Club Shop Mark predicted it to be fair on Tuesday – he knows you know!), and that meant I had a travelling companion for the fourth Saturday since the start of December when we went to Horsham.

A 10.30am departure from downtown ‘Ofton’ saw the sat nav spin us on to the A14 and then down the M11 which was not something I was expecting. The M11 had a couple or three hold ups, but as we passed the home of Woodford Town, and then slipped passed Redbridge Underground Station we were soon parking up at the very nice Crown & Crooked Billet pub in Woodford Green, a GBG pub that Mark had sniffed out earlier.

It was just before quarter to two, and following a quick necking of a pint, it was only 2.7 miles to the ground, and to be fair, by the time we’d admired the gated properties of this part of Essex along the main road that runs into Barkingside, it wasn’t long before we were crossing the bridge at Barkingside Underground Station and turning right into the car park.

So what’s the deal with Redbridge Football Club then?

Firstly, when you think about non-league football and the North / East of London the first thing that springs to mind is mergers, closures, takeovers, grounds going, grounds being shared, and ultimately a whole host of confusion. To be clear, Redbridge FC are absolutely nothing to do with Dagenham & Redbridge, and, despite the fact they play at the stadium in Barkingside, that Barkingside FC used to use, they are nothing to do with them either!

So forget your Walthamstow’s, your Leytonstone’s your Ilford’s, your Leyton’s, or your Waltham’s, this is completely separate.

Redbridge FC are the club formerly known as Ford United. Ford United came about in 1959 following a merger between Ford Sports and Briggs Sports. Yes, there is a very strong link with the motor company that was indeed entrenched in East London, and that very same motor company provided backing for Ford United who plied there trade at the Rush Green Sports Ground, which was eventually annexed by West Ham United who turned it into their training ground.

After playing in various local leagues, Ford joined the Essex Senior League in 1974, where they remained until 1997 when they joined the Isthmian League. A rapid rise ensued and by 2002 they found themselves in the Premier Division, before ultimately making the cut to join the newly formed Conference South.

This move coincided with the ending of the backing from the Ford Motor Company, and having recently moved to the Oakside Stadium after Barkingside’s lease was not renewed, they changed their name to the current guise in an attempt to better reflect the local community.

As Ford United they did make a bit of a name for themselves in the FA Cup, reaching the First Round in 1998-99 only to lose to Preston North End. Then in 2003-04, in the final season before the name change they held Port Vale to a 2-2 draw at Vale Park before losing the replay 2-1 in front of the TV cameras.

Redbridge’s first season in the Conference South ended badly, and with that came about a steady decline, so much so that by 2016 they were back in the Essex Senior League. That said though, they did beat Haywards Heath Town at the end of last season in the Inter-League Play Off and by doing so they now find themselves back in the Isthmian League.

Having said all that about the decline, in 2011-12 they reached the Second Round of the FA Cup, beating Oxford City in the First Round before going down 5-0 at Crawley Town.

What’s the Oakside Stadium like then?

Well, bit of a story for you, back in the mid to late Nineties I worked, ironically, in the automotive industry as a buyer, and at the time I had some dealings with a company called Directa UK. I used to speak on the phone to the sales rep fairly regularly, and in time we got onto talking about football. He did try and get me into an executive box at Tottenham Hotspur on a couple of occasions, but due to my commitments at Belper Town we could never make it happen. Anyway, it turned out he used to go down to the Oakside Stadium to watch Barkingside from time to time, having many a late Saturday night holed up in the bar!

Situated right next to the Underground Station, the ground is charmingly ramshackle. You enter behind the goal and directly in front of you is the smart clubhouse where Fosters was being sold at a price welcomingly cheap considering which part of the Country we were in. Behind the said North goal are a couple of steps of terracing but raised above those steps is a concreted walkway which provides excellent elevated views of the action.

The East side is out of bounds and it looks like the perimeter fencing has been the victim of some storms, while behind the South goal is a narrow concrete walkway. Furniture wise it’s all about the West side. An area of cover straddles the half way line, and contained within it are a number of seats of varying types, colours and styles, while towards the South end of the cover the seats stop and it’s just terracing. Either side of the cover, again, are areas of terracing with elevated concreted areas at the top providing the best vistas.

A couple of portakabin style buildings sit between the stand and the clubhouse / dressing rooms, but what they are used for, I couldn’t tell you. The pitch was a bit heavy, but perfectly playable.

A crowd of just 85 rocked up to watch it, with a fair number having travelled from Brightlingsea (the mini bus was parked outside!). It’s a shame the crowds are so low because the club were very friendly, but I guess in this part of the World, there are lots of other things you can do on a Saturday afternoon. 

The game was ok, not the best, not the worst. Regent started quite brightly but Redbridge had a golden chance to take the lead in the first half but Ayo Odukoya saw his weak penalty easily saved by Lewis Greene.

The second half was a better spectacle and it was the hosts who came out the stronger, taking the lead through Lewis Clark who got the vital touch from a free kick on the left hand side. Redbridge took the game to Regent in the second period as the visitors struggled to create anything, but a late sting in the tail saw Kurt Smith break free in the sixth minute of added time to grab the equaliser.

And that was it, game over, and before long we were gawping once again at some of the properties around Chigwell and the Epping Forest, before finally getting onto the M25 and homeward bound.

An enjoyable day at a very welcoming club, if only a few more of the locals would make the effort to go and watch them. The club could quite easily have died when Ford withdrew their backing, so credit to the ‘Motormen’ for trying to forge a new identity. 

However, notwithstanding the lack of support, the spirit of the Transit Van lives on!















Thursday 15 February 2024

Misinterpretation


Salisbury 2 Poole Town 0

Southern League - Premier Division South

Admission / Programme - £14 / £2.50

Regular subscribers to my blog, and indeed the patrons who pay a monthly subscription to access the Podcasts that run alongside it, will recall back in pre-season I visited Dorchester Town. I talked about Dorchester being one of two grounds in England that I considered to be the best, that I hadn’t previously seen a game at.

The other was Salisbury.


Salisbury Football Club play at the Raymond McEnhill Stadium in the Old Sarum area of the City, and it’s a venue that they only moved to in 1997, having previously played at Victoria Park, which was indeed a park in the centre of the City. In terms of allowing the club to progress, well, it simply didn’t!

I’ve got to be honest though, in my 51 years of residing on this planet, I’ve never been to the City of Salisbury, in fact I’ve never really been anywhere near it. So, as I’ve gradually been working my way down the Step 3 and 4 lists this season, ordinarily in distance from home order, the boys from Wiltshire have started to appear on the radar. But this one felt that bit more interesting, a bit more exciting, perhaps even a little sexy, and certainly capable of inducing a small amount of uncontrolled wee.

But, on the day, I very nearly didn’t make it, thanks to social media and my misinterpretation of it!


The weather of course had been ‘blankety blank’ over the previous week, we’d had snow, rain, volcanic lava, you name it, we’d had the lot, but to be fair to Salisbury they chucked a Tweet out on Friday night stating that barring a ‘wild’ weather event overnight, the game against Poole Town would be taking place.

That would do for me, so I set off, all was good in the World, Saturday morning had seen a game preview posted, what could possibly cause this one to go bustage up?

Well, I’d had a bacon sandwich before I set off, and by the time I was turning off the M1 onto the A43 I felt like I needed a drink, so I stopped at the services on the roundabout at the Towcester turn. I had a quick glance at my phone and noticed the club had put a further Tweet out….

“Hold It…” were the only words, with a GIF thingy posted underneath of a bloke in what looked like a blizzard. My initial thoughts were that we had a problem of the weather variety, but at the same time, I did think any question marks about the game would surely be significantly clearer due to the potential ramifications?

So, I did indeed “Hold It”, sitting in the services for a while, but nothing more came, from either club. I knew that once I’d got onto the M40 and then turned off onto the A34, it was shit or bust time. I had Salisbury or Salisbury to go to, but, if I was on the M40 and we did indeed have a problem, I had a plastic back up down in the capital in the form of regular back up plan, Rayners Lane!

The exit on the M40 was reached and I was in queueing traffic, I sneaked a look, no news about the game but a new signing had been announced, was that what we were indeed hanging on for? So, it seemed the uncertainty was unfounded, all was indeed good in Old Sarum!

A good tootle down the A34 followed, apart from a hold up in the Oxford area, and before long it was onto the famous A303, a road sung about by the Levellers on the track ‘Battle of the Beanfield’. Andover was bypassed before eventually taking a scenic route down past Porton Down and into Old Sarum, which in itself meant that the infamous city centre traffic was avoided. By now it was a quarter to two and the car park at the ground was pretty packed, but I got into it, and it was clear that a good sized crowd was going to be in attendance.

The ground itself is situated in the middle of a newly built housing estate, so access to and from it is via the one road, and there are restrictions around parking, so if you didn’t make the car park, it could be a tricky as to where to dump the car.

The ground is a cracker, with a capacity of 5,000, you have a large main stand that runs three quarters of the length of the South side. With a good number of seats set within it, you also have a bar area at the top, with a sponsors and officials viewing balcony in front of it. Sandwiched between the upper tier bar area and the seats at the bottom are the club offices and dressing rooms, which also, set to the rear, and accessible before entering through the turnstiles are a Club Shop and a further bar area.

At the West end of the stand it turns into covered terracing, which then extends all the way round the West end of the ground providing a steep rake of steps where excellent views of the field of play can be had. Further terracing albeit uncovered and not as steep runs along the North side of the ground and extends round to the East side, albeit on the North side two Atcost style seated stands sit on plinths.

Is it Football League standard, well if it’s not, it can’t be far off?

The history of the club is one of peaks and troughs, with the Ray Mac (as it’s known locally) being the catalyst of the club reaching it’s peak, but as we’ve seen many times before, it quickly went wrong. The original Salisbury City were formed in 1905, playing in the Western League, before they folded at the onset of the Second World War. A new incarnation, called simply Salisbury, re-appeared in the Western League in 1947, before gaining promotion to the Southern League in 1968 where they stayed until 1993, when they changed name again, this time adding the suffix ‘City’.


This is when the fun started, in 1995 the Southern Division championship was won and with it came promotion to the Premier Division. That was followed by a number of mid-table finishes (and a move to the Ray Mac) before relegation sent them back to the regional Southern divisions in 2002.

A one season spell in the Isthmian League Premier Division came in 2004-05, and the elevation came as a result of restructuring, but within a year they were moved back across to the Southern League and that was won at the first attempt, bringing about a promotion to the Conference South.

An immediate runners up spot saw them elevated to the top table of non-league thanks to a Play-Off Final victory over Braintree Town, culminating in a three season spell. However by now financial difficulties beset the club, administration followed and the club were demoted two levels back to the Southern League Premier Division.

Promotion came immediately thanks to a Play-Off Final victory over Hednesford Town. Then two seasons later came another Play-Off Final, this time against Dover Athletic, and once again, at the start of the 2013-14 season, the top table was returned to.

It lasted one season, a mid-table finish meant nothing because the club were expelled from the competition due to missing a deadline to clear outstanding debts. Salisbury City Football Club had gone.    



The City had a season without a club, but then in time for the 2015-16 club, a new Salisbury FC were good to go, playing at the Ray Mac, winning the Wessex League at the first attempt. The following season a runners up spot in the Southern League South Western Division saw them lose out to Tiverton Town in the Play Off Final, but the following year they did win a place back in the Premier Division, where they remain.

The current club reached the FA Vase semi-final in 2015-16, losing to Hereford FC, whereas the previous guise of the club had some impressive exploits in the cups.

The competition proper of the FA Cup has been reached on numerous occasions, with highlights including games against Hull City, Grimsby Town, Port Vale, Sheffield United (in the Third Round), Sheffield Wednesday and indeed Nottingham Forest who were held to a draw at the Ray Mac in front of the TV cameras.

The FA Trophy quarter finals have been reached on numerous occasions, while the semi-final was reached in 2009-10, only for the Whites to lose to Barrow over two legs.

So, it’s been a bit of a rollercoaster for the fans of Salisbury, but what about the current campaign, is the National League South within grasp? Sat second in the table to Chesham United before the game against Poole, they are well placed, and with a crowd of just under 1,000 in attendance, they strengthened their chances with a 2-0 victory.


The first half was a pretty even affair, with both sides having spells of pressure and indeed chances, but the opening goal came just prior to the break when full back Aaron Simpson crashed home the sweetest of half volleys from the angle of penalty area.

The pivotal moment came just before the hour mark when after a spell of Poole pressure (who were very well supported vocally and perhaps a little boisterously!), Salisbury goalkeeper Harrison Lee produced a fabulous double save to deny both Toby Holmes and Jamie Whisken. The ball immediately broke and Salisbury went straight up the other end and grabbed the second goal through Ryan Penny who curled a shot into the top corner.

Poole were awarded a penalty in injury time when Holmes was pulled to the floor by Sido Jombati, but the same players weak effort was easily saved by Lee.



So a happy home crowd left the Ray Mac and despite my fears, I found getting away pretty much trouble free, as was the rest of the journey back to blighty.

So, once again, the best I’ve never had, has finally been done, and to think, a cryptic player signing announcement almost saw me miss it!